There are two totally different aspects of maintenance that I would like to address:the school setting and my personal computers.
School Setting
At school I am not encouraged to do any maintenance on the computers outside of my Computer Lab; yet, inside the Lab the IT department has given me permission to do what I can to maintain my classroom. When I come upon a situation that is beyond my expertise (or password privilege) then they welcome my requests. I have been able to maintain 95% of the problems within my Lab over the three years that I have been employed.
For most of the staff in our building the standard procedure for physical maintenance of computers is the following: 1) Stop and ask another staff member if anything like that has happened before. 2) Check "connections" - this is 85 - 90% of the problems most teachers will experience.
What I have found? Connectivity! Somewhere...somehow the connectivity has been disrupted. That especially includes physical wiring/connectors and even applies to applications (software). I don't now how "plugs" that nobody touches can get disconnected; but, they do!
3) If a teacher can't continue working they can call IT Helpdesk and request assistance. 4) If IT Helpdesk isn't able to help then a written request will be noted and an estimated time of assistance is sent via email. 5) Be sure to check back with IT if the problem isn't solved.
Personally, one area that I am constantly aware of and doing maintenance on is the amount of dust and "stuff" that gets collected in and around the computer hardware. Most of the time when I start trouble-shooting for problems a good cleaning (inside especially) seems to solve many of them.
Personal Setting
On a personal note I have had the blessing of knowing several friends and colleagues that have saved me from disaster time and time again because of their expertise in technology.
The area where I spend regular time maintaining is the updates on my computer applications and drivers. These include Microsoft products, my anti-virus program as well as several programs that I use personally.
There are two totally different aspects of maintenance that I would like to address:the school setting and my personal computers.
School Setting
At school I am not encouraged to do any maintenance on the computers outside of my Computer Lab; yet, inside the Lab the IT department has given me permission to do what I can to maintain my classroom. When I come upon a situation that is beyond my expertise (or password privilege) then they welcome my requests. I have been able to maintain 95% of the problems within my Lab over the three years that I have been employed.
For most of the staff in our building the standard procedure for physical maintenance of computers is the following:
1) Stop and ask another staff member if anything like that has happened before.
2) Check "connections" - this is 85 - 90% of the problems most teachers will experience.
What I have found? Connectivity! Somewhere...somehow the connectivity has been disrupted. That especially includes physical wiring/connectors and even applies to applications (software). I don't now how "plugs" that nobody touches can get disconnected; but, they do!
3) If a teacher can't continue working they can call IT Helpdesk and request assistance.
4) If IT Helpdesk isn't able to help then a written request will be noted and an estimated time of assistance is sent via email.
5) Be sure to check back with IT if the problem isn't solved.
Personally, one area that I am constantly aware of and doing maintenance on is the amount of dust and "stuff" that gets collected in and around the computer hardware. Most of the time when I start trouble-shooting for problems a good cleaning (inside especially) seems to solve many of them.
Personal Setting
On a personal note I have had the blessing of knowing several friends and colleagues that have saved me from disaster time and time again because of their expertise in technology.
The area where I spend regular time maintaining is the updates on my computer applications and drivers. These include Microsoft products, my anti-virus program as well as several programs that I use personally.